Managing institutional change through distributive leadership approaches: engaging academics and teaching support staff in blended and flexible learning

Abstract

Higher Education institutions face a challenge: how to transform traditional learning and teaching to create enhanced learning for current digital age students. In some universities this challenge is acute - particularly in those Universities that focus on blended and flexible learning (BFL), and distance education (DE) approaches. Many universities have emphasised the development of leadership capacity. From 2008 to 2011, utlising a partnership research grant funded by DEHub, Charles Sturt University and Massey University studied their approaches to fostering change in blended and flexible learning and DE. The study research question was: What do the strategies and activities designed to foster change in blended and flexible learning and distance education developed at Charles Sturt University (Australia) and Massey University (NZ) help us to understand about learning leadership?